February 25, 2010

SHARE

Cronyism reigns. The BTA,

Do you realize that the total value–net worth if you will– of the City’s transporation infrastrucutre is $ 5.6 billion dollars/
They’re asking for more than 20% of the infrastructure to be dedicated to bicycles without bicyclsits having to put in one dime. there’s the  issue of where Sam adams is coming
The Portland Tribune reports in today’s edition that water bills are on track to double in coming years. Much of the increase, they report, will be to pay the EPA for fines. This is a scandal.

So Sam Adams is robbing the sewage money from big pipe to give over to the  bike plan when taxpayers are about to get hitwith a huge tax increase.
how did the bicycling community get so powerful that’s able to convince politicos to throw Joe taxpayer under the $100/mile light rail train andgive over their hard earned money to the bicyclists in a disproportionate way.
Lst week Willamette wek di a story on the bicycling folks. And we discovered that along with the $1.4 milion dollarBUDGET it has amassed from begging from civic minded individuals 
for years I’ve told you on the show that the BTA gets its funding from government. there’s some perverse about a bunch of people with their hands out to the government, who then get the money, and then turn around and lobby the same people for money.
Further, most of the people on the board have some connection to government.

In the past decade, BTA shifted into a higher gear. Between 2004 and 2008, BTA’s revenues nearly tripled from $494,000 to $1.32 million. Bicycle ridership grew dramatically during that period as well (see chart, above).
Anchored by 5,000 dues-paying members (current fee: $40) and contracts with the City of Portland and the Oregon Department of Transportation, the BTA built a solid financial foundation. Although BTA is a statewide organization, about 80 percent of its membership lives in Portland
Last year, in his first year as mayor, Adams hired Catherine Ciarlo, a former BTA executive director, to be his transportation adviser. Adams’ chief of staff, Tom Miller, is a keen cyclist and former BTA board member.
“BTA’s influence at City Hall is disproportionate,” says David Bragdon, president of the Metro Council, which handles regional transportation planning.
At Metro, in addition to Burkholder, Councilor Robert Liberty is an avid cyclist, and communications director Jim Middaugh is a BTA board member. Clackamas County Chairwoman Lynn Peterson and Washington County Commissioner and chairman candidate Dick Schouten are both dedicated riders and BTA members.
BTA’s political influence is evident in ways large and small. In 2007, the Legislature approved a “Share the Road” Oregon license plate, which yields BTA more than $40,000 a year.
Unlike most small nonprofits, the BTA employs a full-time lobbyist.
In 2009, Bricker’s successor, Karl Rohde, took an ambitious legislative agenda to Salem. Rohde, a former two-term Lake Oswego city councilor, pushed bills that would increase state funding for bicycling and increase penalties for motorists who collide with cyclists.
But as WW first reported in January, that dizzying ascent skidded to a halt in 2009, when ridership actually fell about 6 percent. (Explanations for the decline include lower gas prices and joblessness; transit use and driving also declined by similar amounts.)
“The goal is to exert leverage,” says board chairwoman Roberts. “Our view is, the city has to now make a meaningful down payment on the bike plan. We have a role to play, and that’s to apply more pressure.”
First, 368 miles of separated in-road bikeways ($409 million). Those bikeways will include everything from painted lanes to lanes physically separated in height, or by parked cars or other barriers from the roadway. Second, 78 miles of bike trails ($133 million), similar to the Springwater Corridor. Third, 256 miles of bicycle boulevards, which are existing low-traffic streets that will be redesigned to reduce motorized through-traffic and provide additional safety elements for cyclists, such as the cyclist traffic light at Southeast 41st Avenue and East Burnside Street ($67 million).

Sam Adams says he would give $20 million of taxpayer dollars to “kick start” the bike plan. He noted that the money was available because the $500,000,000.00 Big Pipe project was winding down and there was money in the “communications” budget.

Business taxes have gone up 300% in the last few years. Garbage bills are going up and garbage pick up is going down to accommodate Dan Saltzman’s dearest wish to compost our leftover food. The cost of the city’s payroll computer is out of control, going from $15 million to now $65 million, even though the city calls it a “success“. The Portland Tribune reports today that water and sewer rates will DOUBLE in the next couple of years. You’d think that with all this gouging of the taxpayers Adams would use that “kick start” money to REDUCE OUR TAXES and FEES.

The thought never occurred to him apparently. It should.

Oregon Community Foundation
Earth Share of Oregon
The Margaret Watt Edwards Foundation
Portland office of Transportation
Oregon Department of Transportation
Tri Met
Metro